U.S. auto sector bankruptcy would devastate: GM CEO...So you better help us!

"This is an issue of the whole auto industry, if that becomes under severe pressure, the impact on the whole U.S. economy will be devastating," Wagoner said in an appearance on a NBC-affiliated television station in Detroit.

This is going to hurt me more than its going to hurt you?!?! Or is it the other way around??

Or maybe its..."Help me, to help you".

Either way, it seems that GM management is trying to scare the political leadership into saving them. GM will not stop making automobiles if it has to be reorganized in chapter 11 bankruptcy. Under reorganization, GM would be able to rework its labor & supply contracts, be relieved of its ownerous legacy pension & medical benefits cost (those will be taxpayer obligations either way), GM would be able to offload GMAC & ResCap lending operations to the TARP, and then they could compete effectively in the automobile manufacturing business. That is what should happen & that would be best for GM & America. Millions of jobs wont be lost in this process...unless that is what the excess capacity & waste is. Hundreds of suppliers won't go bankrupt...unless that is why the supply chain costs are so uncompetitive. And the US economy won't crash any more or less than it would if GM didn't file chapter 11, unless that is how important they are & how much they have been propped up for the last 10 years, even while being uncompetitive & mismanaged. All this talk about how important GM Is to the overall economy is just fearmongering... taught to them by the Bush administration...the same tactic just used in the $700 billion Paulson Bailout Plan. Bottom line is what's good for GM is not good for the America. GM is just plain old not good for America anymore. The legacy workers will be saved by the US taxpayer & the equity & much of the debt used to fund a failing enterprise will be lost. As for the number of jobs we will lose or how much it will hurt the overall economy...all that will happen whether we throw more money at the problem now or not.

"This idea that you just go into Chapter 11 and hang around for three months and agree to reduce your debt obligations and don't pay your retirees, this is a fantasy," Wagoner said. "Most people will stop buying the cars of a bankrupt company."

...Hey Rick...most people aren't buying your cars now!